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Stephen T. Cobb

@scobb.net

5.2K followers 2.9K following 3.7K posts

Researcher of tech risk, AI, cybercrime, ethics. MSc. CISSP. He/him. Partner of amazing Chey. Carer. NHS volunteer. Coventrian. UK/US citizen. #FBPE. Pro truth, gender equity. Agin Trump, Musk, Tories. There be cats. Profile=Lola+Me. linktr.ee/StephenCobb

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 20d

If you're new to me and/or Bluesky, here's the kind of work I do: explain the risks posed by technology, like baking in bad design choices that are still enabling crimes today. But I try to make my first post of the day a cat/sky/tree pic. #CyberSecurity #CyberCrime #Caturday #Cats #AI #TechEthics

What a Concept! 30 years of Microsoft macro-enabled crime and its impact on humans and AI

When Bill Gates' Microsoft shunned the wisdom of experts and mixed code with content in office documents it enabled cybercrimes costing the world billions. Now it's adding AI into the malware mix.

open.substack.com

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 14m

Eagerly awaiting President Trump’s statement congratulating Maria Corina Machado.

Lisa Reyna Loe @lisaloe.bsky.social · 1h

Happy Nobel Peace Prize day to all who celebrate! 🕊️

In a brilliant and well deserved move, an (1) antifa (2) Latina (3) woman, María Corina Machado, wins for her work promoting democratic rights in Venezuela.

María Corina Machado wins the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democratic rights in Venezuela

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Jason Dogwood 💙 🏳️‍🌈 🌱 @jasondogwood.bsky.social · 1h

Congress made their pay permanent. Military pay? No. Could congress fix it? Instantly. But why would the arsonists turn off the gas while they’re still warm and well-fed? They are fake patriots, fake christians who see everyone as disposable. “Respect the troops” means paying them!

Troops will miss paychecks next week without action on the government shutdown

The federal government shutdown is raising anxiety levels among service members and their families because those in uniform are working without pay.

apnews.com

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Lisa Reyna Loe @lisaloe.bsky.social · 1h

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 5h

Here's an idea, instead of investing billions in trying to make cars that can drive themselves without killing people, why not invest in people? Improve education, enforce tougher driver testing, narrow the wealth gap, reduce social tensions, relieve unnecessary human suffering. Just a thought.

Tesla hit with probe after crashes involving a self-driving feature that Musk has boasted about

Federal regulators have opened yet another investigation into Tesla’s so-called full-self driving technology after dozens of incidents in which the electric vehicle maker’s cars ran red lights or drov...

apnews.com

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 5h

Ironically, the day after I give a talk to a bunch of IP and copyright attorneys, explaining what can go wrong with AI, ChatGPT gives me a ludicrous answer to a simple copyright question.

This is a summary of a conversation with ChatGPT in which it asserts that a particular book is not yet in the public domain, but when pressed admits that it is, in fact, in the public domain, and for reasons that ChatGPT has already stated. In other words, it is spouting sentences that are illogical and clealry not self-aware.

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 6h

Just thinking out loud here: why doesn't US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem set up a live stream of drone footage from Portland right now? That way everyone can see in real time how bad the carnage and violence is.

ICE Barbie Says an Entire State’s Worth of Officials Are “Lying”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is convinced, against all evidence, that Portland is a war zone.

newrepublic.com

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 6h

I want my breakfast and I want it now.
#Cats

Photo of an English tabby cat called Lola looking down at the camera with a fairly serious, even fierce, facial expression.

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

French Couple at Café De La Ville
Bar-sur-Seine, France

[Photographer's print from 35mm film, shot with Zenit E w/ Helios 58mm F2, September, 1971] #humansofbluesky #streetphotography #photography #candid #urbangaze #monochrome #believeinfilm #blackandwhite #classicmono #foto #b&w

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

George The Station Cat @george-station-cat.bsky.social · 17h

Night night sweet dreamies

This is your reminder:

You are incredibly awesome and deserve to be loved, especially by you

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 16h

OMG! This would be hilarious if the people saying the batshit crazy stuff weren't armed to the teeth and itching to open fire.

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 17h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Shelby Kent-Stewart @shelbykstewart.bsky.social · 1d

GOP can't govern. They lie with impunity, claim to be Christian as they repeatedly go against the tenets of Jesus, protect pedophiles while dismissing the survivors, and now we find out they can't read.

They betray their constituents and the country to which they swore an oath.

Vote them out!

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

pissed-off-g.bsky.social @pissed-off-g.bsky.social · 1d

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Chris Baraniuk @chrisbaraniuk.com · 18h

Woah this is nuts! 🦐☢️

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 19h

after the 10th radioactive shrimp recall in 7 weeks, i decided to do some digging

little did i know it would lead me to an underreported industrial accident that may have released an airborne plume of radioactive debris over swaths of indonesia
www.consumerreports.org/health/food-...

What Is Really Going on With All This Radioactive Shrimp? - Consumer Reports

Here’s the latest on how shrimp and spices got contaminated with cesium-137, how the FDA has responded, and why consumers should not panic.

www.consumerreports.org

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Be Sand in the Gears of Fascism @liberal-g.bsky.social · 17h

That explains why women are never autistic.... Who knew.

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 17h

The Attorney General of New York was just indicted by our tinpot dictator

Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals

Prosecutor who sought charges was installed amid Trump frustrations with pace of investigations against rivals

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Spooky Scary Sarahtons 🎃 (they/them) @sarahndipity.bsky.social · 17h

this is wild. the whole fricking world is being bullied by this whiny ass toddler with dementia. what the fuck?
someone stop him!

Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize

US president may impose tariffs, demand higher Nato contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says

www.theguardian.com

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 17h

It's almost like they're making a real life Version of Brazil, the movie not the country, where the government isn’t really fighting terrorists — it’s fighting an invented or exaggerated enemy, using fear to maintain its authority and suppress individuality.

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

PhillipUSA @phillipusa.bsky.social · 20h

#MAGA…

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 22h

What is the one thing missing from every analysis of AI, its potential, its ROI, its risks?

A comprehensive understanding of cybercrime and how our failure to rein it in is dooming AI.

#CybersecurityAwareness #CyberCrimeAwareness #AIRisk #ThinkB4UClick #Fraud #BeCyberSmart #StaySafeOnline

ChatGPT-5 on Cybercrime: An Open Letter to World Leaders

According to ChatGPT-5: "the stakes could not be higher." The latest version of OpenAI's widely used AI model calls for greater action to defeat cybercrime before it defeats the very purpose of artifi...

riskopia.substack.com

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 23h

When five of the 10 items of clothing you ordered online are stolen out of the bag they were shipped in, and the retailer offers to send replacements overnight, at no charge, you know this has happened before. #CyberCrimeAwareness

Photo of white man with white beard in a light blue shirt holding a large plastic bag with a hole in it, out of which the contents can be taken. The bag was supposed to contain 10 items of clothing ordered online, but was delivered containing only five.

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

Handy cyber 'trick' that has served me well:
If in doubt about something, maybe an email or text, an offer or a product, company, even a person, just Google a few words of description along with scam or fraud, as seen below:
#CyberAware #ThinkB4UClick #CyberSecurity #StaySafeOnline #BeCyberSmart

Screenshot of an example of using Google to explore the trustworthiness of people, products, services, and so on. Simply search for the name of the iten and the word fraud. In this example, the first and last name of a person or googled together with the word "fraud".

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

So there I was, about to give a talk about "AI Futures" in which I discuss the tendency of digital technologies to eventually disappoint due to poor behaviour by humans, and a knock at the door delivers a prime example: half the clothes I ordered online were nicked from the bag they were shipped in.

Photo of white man in a light blue shirt holding a large white plastic bag in which there is a hole patched with tape. A hole out of which half the order of clothes (5 out of 10 items) has been stolen.

Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

"The most common fraud in the US over the past year was the impostor scam. More than 856,000 instances, collectively draining $2.7 billion nationwide, were reported to the FTC in 2023" @sciam.bsky.social #StaySafeOnline #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth #CyberAware #ThinkB4UClick #Fraud #BeCyberSmart

Defend Yourself against AI Impostor Scams with a Safe Word

Fraudsters are using AI voice-cloning services to steal identities. Code words can thwart this deception

www.scientificamerican.com

Reposted by Stephen T. Cobb

Scott Smith @canaansdad1987.bsky.social · 1d

Adam Kinzinger is on the spot with this video. Release the Epstein files

#USDemocracy

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Stephen T. Cobb @scobb.net · 1d

"It may feel counterintuitive, but one of the best things to do if you do get conned, is to share the experience with people you know...information is power, and we can learn collectively from our individual missteps...send me your scam tales to: [email protected]" A. Gawrylewski #StaySayOnline

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